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Mayim Bialik Unlikely to Return to ‘Jeopardy!’ This Year as She Stands With Writers & Actors During Strikes

By Michael Fairman

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Photo: JPI

Choosing to stand with the ongoing union battles for Hollywood writers and actors (WGA and SAG-AFTRA), Jeopardy! host, Mayim Bialik will probably not be back on-air in her game show duties through 2023.

A source told The Messenger on Bialik’s status with the show: “She wasn’t fired. She’s choosing to stand with her union, and because of that, she was told it is unlikely she will return for the rest of the year, even if the strike is resolved before then.”

Previously, an official press release was issued by ABC the week of August 22nd where it revealed that Celebrity Jeopardy! will return for Season 2 on September 27th, Ken Jennings as the sole host, instead of Bialik.

Photo: SPT

SAG-AFTRA’s National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting (NetCode) that covers daytime soap operas also covers game shows. So, if Bialik wanted her job back at this point, she could cross the picket lines potentially without issue.

However, it should also be noted that syndicated Jeopardy! and ABC’s Celebrity Jeopardy! are both written by WGA members, further confounding the situation.

Photo: AP

Bialik exited Jeopardy! in its final week of taping season 39 in solidarity with the writers, which left Ken Jennings to take over the role.  She had stepped away from hosting Celebrity Jeopardy! to avoid crossing picket lines, since Mayim is also a noted actress from her days on The Big Bang Theory and other TV and film roles.

So, what do you think of Mayim’s decision to stay away from Jeopardy! till the Hollywood union strikes reach some resolution? Do you think they will ultimately have her back when the strikes end? Comment below.

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I respect her support of the unions. She should be admired for doing so. What happens with Jeopardy is a big question mark, since we don’t know how long the strikes will last and things can change. But I’m hoping it’s her choice to go back or not.

Good for her

Good because she is awful at hosting. It’s painful to watch.

Then don’t do anything painful and don’t watch

I’m very sorry to hear this. I love Mayim and really enjoy her hosting Jeopardy. That said, I respect her decision to stand in solidarity with the striking unions. I hope the strikes end soon so that everyone can get back to the work they love.

I agree and also enjoy her hosting. She has a charm, ease, and sense of humor that Ken still has to force. Of course, he’s not a seasoned performer yet so he gets some slack. I like having them both and agree about the strike decision.

That is fine with me. Prefer Ken

I respect her wish to honor the picket line. But truthfully I don’t miss her as host. She should stick to acting because she is a terrible host.

Agreed

I agree with Moto62 keep her off for good. I don’t watch the show when she is host.

Me either

She is a stone at the podium. Very little personalization with the contestants. I too watch very little when she hosts. Not good at all.

I will watch because I love the show. But every time she hosts it is cringeworthy for me. I will not miss her as host.

I hope she is never on Jeopardy again!

Shes the worst jeopardy host ever and im old enough to have seen them all.liked her on big bang but terrible onthis one,so whatever got her off the show im in favor of.kens great

I understand her decision, but she should be replaced. If I walked off in strike at my job, I would be replaced!

Keep her off, Ken is much better

No she had a responsibility to jeopardy. No she should be fired. Ken Jennings is more like Alex trebec. Whole lot handson to look at. He does a excellent job.

Am delighted she’s leaving. I refuse to watch the show when she’s there.

Happiest day I’ve had in a long time!!

I don’t think she should have her job available anymore. Frankly I don’t believe she ever was fully committed to the show.

I enjoyed her as a host. Political crap just kills me, though

Sad to see so many anti-union comments here. She should be applauded for her stand.

Glad to see her go.

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Alum Chad Duell Announces Upcoming Release of His First Single, ‘If You Need Me’

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In a surprise move, Daytime Emmy winner, Chad Duell (ex-Michael Corinthos, GH) is getting ready to unveil a new chapter of his career in music.

The former GH star, where he played the son of Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) for 15 years, has announced his new single, “If You Need Me” will drop on Friday, June 26. The single is now available for pre-order on Spotify and major music streaming platforms and is distributed by DistroKid.

Taking to his Instagram story over the weekend, to announce the pre-save of his new single, Chad expressed, “I’ll make a full post about what I’ve been up to and my music once it goes live next week, but you can pre-save my first single so it goes straight to your Spotify once it drops next week.”

Photo: CDuellIG

SINCE LEAVING GENERAL HOSPITAL

Previously, since his departure from the ABC soap opera. Chad starred alongside Zach Mendez in the world premiere of of Yum Yum at Annapolis, a new play written by Bruce Reisman. Duell last appeared on General Hospital on the January 21, 2025 episode.

The part was recast with Rory Gibson who debuted as the new Michael in May of 2025 during the Nurses’ Ball episodes and who has remained in the role since that time.

In an interview earlier this year on The Able Show, Duell said on his decision to exit the soap opera, “I was blessed to be part of that (show) for as long as I have, but what happens sometimes is if you’re doing the same thing, especially in a creative field for such a long time, you can get a little burnt out in a way. It can make you a little depressed, so that’s kind of what happened. On top of that, I had other things going on in my life at the time. My father passed away recently and I just needed a reset. So, I stepped away. A lot of times you have to go through some stuff to really step into that next level. I needed to kind of feel uncomfortable.”

So, what type of musical genre will Chad’s new song be? Country? Pop? Rock? Dance/Club? Something else? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section below, and if you are eager to hear the new single next week via the comment section below.

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General Hospital

‘General Hospital’s’ Dominic Zamprogna Reflects on Dante’s Guilt for the ‘Atrocity’ That Happened to Michael Which Kept Everyone From Telling Him the Truth About Rocco (Exclusive)

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On recent episodes of General Hospital, acting PCPD commissioner, Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) was the last to know when his ex-wife Lulu (Alexa Havins), his cop/friend “Nathan,” (Ryan Paevey) and his son, Rocco (Finn Carr) kept him in the dark from learning that Rocco actually shot WSB director, Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes). That, set off a chain of events leading to Rocco joining Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) and going on the run from Port Charles.

However, what led to everyone being so secretive and keeping the truth from Dante stems, in part, to what happened back in 2010. In story, Michael Corinthos (then played by Chad Duell) was brutally assaulted and rape by his prison inmate, Carter (Josh Wingate). Michael went to prison when his brother, Dante, then a PCPD detective, forced Michael to testify in court about killing his stepmother, Claudia Zacchara (Sarah Brown). That testimony resulted in Michael being sentenced to prison for manslaughter.

In early 2011, Michael admitted out loud to Jason (Steve Burton) for the first time that he was raped. The guilt of that situation has plagued Dante for years, and fast-forward 16 years later, it’s still very much alive in Dante’s character life as explained by Dominic Zamprogna in his recent interview on the Michael Fairman Channel.

Courtesy/ABC

RORY GIBSON RECAST WAS PERFECT TIME TO BRING BACK THE STORY POINT

Zamprogna spoke of Dante’s son current plight, and how it dovetails into the past for the acting police commissioner. “The situation with Rocco is just this awful scenario that this kid is in and wanting to try and do the best for him. The other thing I liked too was from the other people’s perspectives of Dante in the past, he kind of did right by the law, not by the people, or put too much faith in the law, and expected it to work out for the people he loved, and it didn’t. So, it gave them a reason for keeping things from him as well.”

The five-time Daytime Emmy nominee shared it’s important to remember things in the history of the character you play. When GH decided to recast the role of Michael Corinthos with Rory Gibson on-screen in May of 2025, it was the perfect time to remind viewers of what happened all those years ago.

“The idea that when you’re on a show this long, I do think about those elements because there’s so much story. The scenes that I think of immediately with the Michael situation was with Chad gone, and then Rory came in. They (the writers) chose that moment to kind of literally say in the dialogue when we were at the Quartermaines, ‘You’ve changed since you came back from Europe, and you’re a different guy and you’re darker.’ I think I said all these things. Frank Valentini (executive producer, GH) calls (Rory’s version) ‘Dark Michael.’ It’s true.”

Courtesy/ABC

DANTE’S GUILT OVER MICHAEL’S BRUTAL PRISON ASSAULT LINGERS

“That was the first time my character brought that up in what had happened to Michael so long ago. I’d love to play those beats more often. You can’t beat that to death, because it was 16 years ago, but you also can’t act like it never happened. Sometimes in the world that we live in, the soap world, you do act like things don’t happen because how could people carry on with that kind of guilt, you know? Every time I looked at Michael, Dante would feel responsible for the atrocity that happened to him. So, there’s a balance. You can’t think about it every time, but you definitely have to acknowledge it. This was the perfect time to acknowledge it with the character of Michael because of the recast.”

Now over the last several months, Dante was kept from the truth all stemming back to that moment. Zamprogna recalled, “It was the first kind of domino that fell in bringing back that history. Then, you had Britt coming back and that brought back that history of the embryo with Dante and Lulu. It was fun to be able to play pissed-off with these people who I love. So, you got to play the love underneath and the anger on top, and it was all because of his past. So, it all kind of brought things back and it completed something.”

CAN LULU AND DANTE FIND ROCCO AND BRITT IN TIME?

At the end of Friday’s June 19 cliffhanger, Dante and Lulu learned from “Nathan” where Rocco and Britt are hiding out and take off to find their son. How will that go? Can the execs get along for the sake of their son? Stay tuned.

In case you missed our conversation with Dominic Zamprogna  you can check it out in full below.

Do you believe, given what happened with Michael Corinthos in the past, everyone had the right to hide what happened to Rocco from Dante? What do you remember from the harrowing story of Michael’s rape in prison by Carter? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.

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Beyond the Gates

RATINGS: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Scores Third Most-Watched Week Since Its Premiere With ‘The Young and the Restless’ Crossover Event

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The tornado that ripped through Fairmont Crest and put the lives of the characters of Beyond the Gates and several from The Young and the Restless in jeopardy had viewers tuning-in for the week of June 8-12.

The highly-publicized crossover event kicked off on the Tuesday, June 9 episode of Beyond the Gates where six residents of Genoa City came to to visit the D.C./Maryland country club for a fundraiser for Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon), only no one expected a twister to tear into the proceedings, leading to several storylines intersecting as people were trapped with one another with Eva Thomas (Ambyr Michelle) being the most severely injured and now requiring a liver transplant to survive.

According to the ratings report from CBS and Nielsen ratings and as supplied to Variety, Beyond the Gates brought in on average 1.8 million viewers throughout the wee. That is up 11% from its season-to-date numbers and it makes the crossover/tornado episodes its third most-watched week for the soap since Beyond the Gates premiered back on February 24, 2025.

Photo: CBS

A GENOA CITY TOUCHDOWN

With the strength of the story, its special effects and bringing over cast of the top-rated, The Young and the Restless which included: Eric Braeden (Victor Newman), Michael Mealor (Kyle Abbott), Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott), Susan Walters (Diane Jenkins), Melissa Ordway (Abby Newman) and Bryton James (Devon Hamilton), the Thursday, June 11 episode was the week’s most-watched.

According to the numbers, the Wednesday June 10 episode brought in the most total viewers for the week with 1.87 million (up 17% week-to-week), followed closely by the Friday, June 12 episodes which had 1.84 million watching.

Photo: JPI

Over on The Young and the Restless, the week of June 8-12, also saw an increase based on the early return that week of Shemar Moore as Malcolm Winters wrapping up his leg of the story where viewers learned he had a son Holden Novak (Nathan Owens) with Stephanie Simmons (Vivica A. Fox), and survived his bone marrow transplant surgery thanks to Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn).

Y&R scored 3.11 million viewers for the week up 2% from its season average with the June 8 and June 9 episodes featuring Moore averaging 3.2 million viewers and up 9% year-over-year.

So, did you enjoy the tornado episodes of Beyond the Gates and seeing the residents of Genoa City crossover to Fairmont Crest? Share your thoughts via the comment section on the latest ratings for the two CBS daytime soaps.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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Finn Carr & Dominic Zamprogna as Rocco & Dante

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